The Leonora Track and Field Facility would likely witness one of the grandest gathering of athletes from across Guyana’s 10 administrative regions on Sunday October 30th, as they vie for opportunity to participate in a team that would represent Guyana on the regional stage in the Inter Guiana Games.
Placement on the team would be determined by competitive trials being hosted by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), who are keen to have countrywide involvement in these trials, as the objective is to field the winning team at these Games.
AAG President Aubrey Hutson5
AAG President Aubrey Hutson has explained that the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers Union may have a role to play in helping to select the Guyana team for the IGG. He shared
with Guyana Times Sport, “We may have to engage the Guyana Teachers Union, because the teachers directly will know of those athletes who are coming through to represent the different regions at the National Championships. So, at the Inter-Schools’ level, we’re hoping to see those stars.
“We’re going to try our best to have representation from the AAG visit some of those meets, and try to encourage some of those athletes on a one-on-one basis. But I think the widespread reach of the Ministry of Education may be more appropriate for us, simply because sometimes the support systems in getting these athletes out, spotting the talent, you need to find means of getting them to these trials,” he explained.
Given that the Games are open to students under 20 years old, Hutson shared another reason to get MOE on board.
“We plan to get the notice directly to the Ministry of Education for them to use whatever method of dissemination of information to schools; for them to alert them about these trials, and let them know (that) for the athletes to be part of the IGG team, they must be in an educational institution – from University of Guyana all the way down to secondary school.”
Turning his attention to performances, Hutson has been pretty confident that the Guyanese athletics team would be able to do well against Suriname and French Guiana.
Giving his opinion on the competition to expect, Huts said, “By and large, the performance the last time out was very good. We know particularly Suriname is working really hard on upping their programme, and the French should be here this time around, which should pose a different challenge to Guyana.”
“At the end of it all, we’re hoping to come away with better performances, and I think once we put in better performances, we should come away with the kind of medals that we got the last time, or event better,” the AAG Boss confidently shared.
The Inter Guiana Games, last held in 2017, are set for November 25th to 27th, 2022.
